Bender Bending Rodriguez

Bender celebrating after bending bars

Species: Robot
Planet of Origin: Earth (Hecho en Mexico)
Age: 5 (body), 1060 (head)
Voiced by: John DiMaggio
First Appearance: "Space Pilot 3000" (1ACV01)

General Information

Giant Bender as seen in a "What If?" scenario, about to get attacked by giant Zoidberg.

Bender Bending Rodríguez or Bending Unit 22 (possibly his model number) is a Bending unit built by Mom's Friendly Robot Company in 2998 in Tijuana, Mexico. He weighs 525 pounds and his central processing unit is a MOS Technologies 6502 processor. His arms and legs can be separated from the body and may act independently from it, and his head is able to survive without his body. His internal fuel cells are recharged by drinking alcohol or any other liquid capable of delivering chemical energy, such as mineral oil or dark matter oil. If he does not drink alcohol for a while, he suffers symptoms of intoxication, develops five-o'-clock rust around his mouth and leaks oil from his armpits. He carries a nuclear pile that seems to be composed of fissionable material, enabling the construction of miniature nuclear weapons.

Bender has a highly addictive personality, and his favorite pastimes are watching All My Circuits, stealing things, drinking, and smoking. He lives in the Robot Arms Apartments with his roommate Fry. In spite of his general selfishness and family-sized ego, he has occasionally demonstrated a capacity for generosity, even self-sacrifice, where his good friends are involved.

One of Bender's life-long dreams is to be a folk singer—a dream he briefly lived when he toured with Beck's Head (3ACV13). Normally his inhibition unit keeps his musical urges under control, but it tends to shut down in the presence of strong magnetic fields (especially in close proximity to his head). Ultimately things turned out tragically; fortunately for Bender, he's a robot with many life-long dreams. Another is being a great chef, like his idol Elzar. He achieved this dream as well when he defeated Elzar on the show Iron Cook (3ACV22).

Biography

Bender when he was only a month old

Bender was assembled in a plant of Mom's Friendly Robot Company in Tijuana, Mexico around 2997. He went to Bending college and majored in bending. His original job was bending girders, the task he was created for. But once he found out what the girders were for (suicide booths), he decided to kill himself and entered a queue in front of a suicide booth in New New York. There he encountered Fry and escaped the intended self-destruction, befriending the newly defrosted delivery boy. After trying to escape Leela, Bender decided not to follow his programming any more, after his antenna contacted the bare wires of a broken lightbulb, which may have burned out a few of his circuits. After Leela decided to quit her job too, all three entered the service of Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth and his interstellar delivery service, Planet Express, where Bender takes the position of the ship's cook and oddjob unit. Since then, he has never looked back (well, maybe once). In the service of the Planet Express company, he has visited many exotic worlds and met many interesting people, often robbing them in the process. His experiences include living as a penguin, being infected with the ancient were-car curse, working as a super-hero with the The New Justice Team, selling his body, enlisting with the Earth Forces and being a war hero, undergoing a temporary sex change, being paralyzed, touring as a folk-singer, being mistaken for a UFO, and meeting an entity that may have been God. Bender's great nemesis is the giant can opener found in the Planet Express building which has on two occasions seriously damaged him, and allegedly killed his father.

Bender's Mommy

Family

• Professor Farnsworth, creator of the sports utility robot on which Bender and all/most other modern robots are based.
• Flexo, another Bending unit of the same model.
• Mom, owner of Mom's Friendly Robot Co.
• His mother, who sends him an Xmas card.
• His father, who was killed by a giant can opener (2ACV01).
• Uncle Vladimir, who lived in Thermostadt, capital of the Robo-Hungarian Empire, and died at the ripe old age of 211.
• Tandy, Uncle Vladimir's son.
• Screwy Aunt Rita (who is a screw)
• Albert, Bethany, Sally, Nina & 8 other orphans, briefly adopted from the Cookieville Minimum-Security Orphanarium
• Three penguin "children" (3ACV05)
• Junior, a child born to The Crushinator (US#009)

Additional Info

Trivia

• Bender's apartment number is 00100100. This is a binary representation of the ASCII character '$' or 36 in decimal.
• Bender's serial number is 2716057. This can be expressed as the sum of 2 cubes. Specifically, 952³ + (-951)³
• Additionally, he seems to be the 1729^th unit produced by his "mommy".
• The word "bender" can refer to a drinking spree, hinting at Bender's heavy alcohol use.
• Bender is powered by a 6502 Microprocessor.
• Bender dies at the end of both of his what-if scenarios in each Anthology of Interest.
• His self-destruct code is 1A2B3.
• Apparently stole the Prime Minister of Norway's arm.
• Is able to simultaneously reattach each of his severed arms with the other.
• He cannot get up when he is knocked on his back.
• His antenna interferes with satelite televisions, along with some cellphones.
• He, along with Fry and Leela, appears in all episodes of the series.

Catchphrase

Bender's basic catchphrase is "Bite my shiny metal ass!"
Sound:BenderBitesAss.mp3

Variations on this include the following:

• Bite my red-hot glowing ass! (1ACV12)
• Lick my frozen metal ass! (2ACV04)
• Bite my colossal metal ass! (2ACV16)
• Bite my splintery wooden ass! (4ACV14)
• Bite my glorious golden ass! (4ACV15)
• Oww my shiny you-know-what! (Futurama the game)

Composition

Bender routinely claims to be made of thirty to forty percent of various metals. Unfortunately, his credibility on this matter is thrown into question by the fact that they add up to well over one hundred percent:

• 40% Zinc (1ACV13)
• 40% Titanium (2ACV02)
• 30% Iron (3ACV22)
• 40% Dolemite (4ACV07)
• An unknown quantity of osmium (3ACV17)

Total: (greater than) 150%.

Additionally, he has a .04% nickel impurity, which doesn't increase total percentage, but slightly decreases the %s of everything else.

Alternate Appearances

Bender as a were-car

Human Bender

• Giant Bender: In Anthology of Interest I, Bender asks what it would be like if he were 500 feet tall.
• Cowboy Bender: The only apparent differences being that the Bender of the alternate universe (the only alternate universe at the time) is that he wears a cowboy hat and a vest.
• Were-Car Bender: In The Honking, Bender is transformed each night at midnight into a malicious were-car, determined to kill his closest friend.
• Human Bender: In Anthology of Interest II, Bender asks what it would be like if he were human.
• Flying Saucer Bender: After crashing to the New Mexico desert, the US military mistakenly reassembles Bender's body to resemble a small (functional) flying saucer.
• Young Bender: Bender takes several reverted forms in Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles, including a software disc and a set of "Bending unit blueprints". Modifications include braces and dish-antenna-like ears.
• Fembot Bender: Bender undergoes a sex-change operation in order to win five olympic gold medals. Faked his(her) own death with a fictional disease called "African Hydraulic Fever" because he(she) did not want to marry Calculon.
• Wooden Bender: Bender downgrades to a wooden, steam-powered version in Obsoletely Fabulous.
• Golden Bender: In Universe 1, Bender's coin flip resulted in his choosing the gold finish instead of the foghat grey that we're used to.
• Go-Kart Bender: After being murdered by Leela in Anthology of Interest I, she reassembles his parts into a sporty go-kart.
• Santa Bender: In A Tale of Two Santas Bender becomes a good Santa. This appearance basically has Bender's body painted red.

Bender's Functions, Attachments, and Accessories

As we can see during the episodes, Bender has a lot of differents functions. Here is a list of them:

• Trash Can : Bender's own cavity can be used as a trash can. First seen Space Pilot 3000 as he throws a bottle of beer inside him.
• Zooming Eyes : His eyes can zoom out of his normal layer, so he can get a better view on things. First seen also in Space Pilot 3000.
• Extensomatic arms : Bender's arms and legs are capable of extending to many times their normal length. First seen in The Series Has Landed
• Camera : Each of Bender's eyes can be used as a camera, either to take pictures or to film things. Both are first seen in When Aliens Attack. He also has one more camera, located "below the equator" which does not always "perform". The camera is never seen, but it can be heard extending.
• Cowcatcher Bender: In A Taste of Freedom, Bender has a 19th century style cowcatcher installed to his front to clear a path through the crowd outside the Decapodian Embassy.
• Barbecue : Bender's cavity is used the same way as a barbecue. He used it to cook some burgers. First seen in When Aliens Attack.
• Oven : His cavity can be used as an oven, to cook things. The real function name is "E-z Bake", and is used to cook a cake for Nibbler, in the episode I Second that Emotion
• Refrigerator : His cavity can also be used to refrigerate, as seen also in I Second that Emotion
• Projector : A light can come out of his cavity. He used it for the first time in When Aliens Attack
• Pop-Corn maker : Bender can make some pop-corn in his cavity. First seen in Fear of a Bot Planet
• Beer maker : Bender can also serve some beers within is cavity. First seen in Hell is Other Robots­
• Toilet : Bender's cavity is used as a toilet in the episode The Cyber House Rules. He pushes his antenna to flush.
• Recorder : Bender can record things with is head. First seen in A Head in the Polls, to record Richard Nixon's head's words.

Bender as Lighthouse

• Oxygen Supplier : In the episode The Deep South, Bender is used as an Oxygen Supplier, that comes via some masks.
• Floatation Device : In The Deep South, Bender refer his ass as a Floatation Device.
• Pepper Grinder : In The 30% Iron Chef, Bender inserts peppercorns in his mouth and shakes ground pepper out of his ass.
• Beer Tub : Bender fermentates some beer in his chest, in the episode The Route of All Evil.
• Oil Sprayer : Bender sprays oil on a comsetic saleswoman in A Fishful of Dollars
• Mail Box: Bender's antenna indicates when he is receiving mail. First seen in Crimes of the Hot.
• Circular Saw : Bender can use his hands as a circular saw and lower a matching eyeshade to protect his eyes. First seen in Less than Hero.
• Laser Show : In Jurassic Bark, Bender projects an expensive-looking laser show with his head.
• Flamethrower : Bender boils some water using flames coming out of his mouth in Anthology of Interest I.
• Stadium air horn : In The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings, the Robot Devil installs a stadium air horn under Bender's nose.
• Voice Modifier : In Bender Gets Made, Bender changed his voice via a control panel. Two voices are available : Robot, and King.
• Bug Zapper: In Spanish Fry, Bender shows that he is apparently capable of charging his surface with electricity and using his head to electrocute bugs.
• Lighthouse: In Obsoletely Fabulous, Bender's revolving head and luminous eyes acted as a fully functional lighthouse.
• Cheating Unit: In A Flight to Remember, Bender speaks of his "cheating unit" which predicts (inaccurately) the coming roll of the dice at craps.
• Water Boiler: Boils and produces hot water for Calculon in That's Lobstertainment!
• Safe: In Put Your Head on My Shoulder, Bender is stores money in his cavity, combination lock dial can be seen on his door.
• Pen: Finger can turn into a pen. Used to write down an address in Xmas Time Is Fear and to write down a joke in Who's Dying To Be A Gazillionaire?, and to write a "A Plea For Attention" in Obsoletely Fabulous.
• Paper Shredder: Paper is inserted into his mouth, shredded and comes out of his chest. Used to shred the menu in Hell is Other Robots.
• Food Processor: Bender purées fish and regurgitates it to his surrogate penguin children in The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz.